Theater

The Bocca Beat

Julio Bocca is, simply put, one of the great dancers of our age.

But the hunky American Ballet Theatre star is much more: a sometime Broadway baby who starred in the musical Fosse, a choreographer, a director, a persuasive ambassador for Argentine culture, and an electrifying showman with an eye for shameless theatricality.

So attention must be paid to Bocca whenever he takes time off from setting Swan Lake's ballerinas spinning, or driving dancing Giselles mad, to tour with the company he founded in 1990 in his native Buenos Aires: Ballet Argentino.

And it's back.

Ballet Argentino's new show, Boccatango, features Bocca and his handpicked troupe of sultry dancers in a suite of 25 fleeting tango numbers. Choreographed by Ana Maria Stekelman — the founder of Tangokinesis and herself no slouch — the show promises live music by the group Octango and live vocals by tangomeister Guillermo Fernandez.

You're not likely to find the authentic Argentine tango here — any more than Igor Moyseyev's dance explosions are real Russian folklore or Mexico's Ballet Folklrico is the way everyday folk might dance south of the border.

If past tours are any indication, Bocca's latest spectacle should bring an ensemble of impeccably trained classical artists — who also happen to be hot — surprising audiences with their blend of ballet and modern dance, all set to the tango's throbbing beat.

I don't know about you, but this is one production I'm definitely not going to miss.

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OCTAVIO ROCA

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